Millmerran citizens of the year

Citizen of the Year Award – Bridget Hogarth
Bridget Hogarth has worked as a registered nurse in the Millmerran community for the past 23 years. She is an outstanding nurse with great compassion and insight into the needs of her patients and treats each of them as if they were her own family. The other area where Bridget exceeds the normal expectation of her role as a nurse is in palliative care. She works with integrity and honesty with the families and ensures that she is available around the clock when they are in the palliative state. Her tireless dedication to her patients is always evident in all three health centres she works in and she is a great role model for new nurses – always supporting them in a professional and encouraging manner.

Young Citizen of the Year Award – Tim O’Dea
Tim is an outstanding role model for the youth of Millmerran. He is school captain for the Millmerran State P-10 School, he is a student council representative, a great public speaker, a member of the school debating team and a much-awarded scholar including winning the Mark Edgeley Award for Academic Excellence. He has excelled as a scout and venturer and is a member of the cricket team at school and club level, as well as the AFL side. Tim is always respectful, well spoken and honest – he is a great representative of the Millmerran area.

Sports Award – Jo Jannusch
Jo Jannusch is a teacher-aide at the small Cecil Plains State School. After school, Jo trains the netball side so they can compete in the Saturday morning competition in Dalby and has taken them to two grand finals. Jo also helps coach the children who have made the athletics teams and she is considered a vital cog in their training because her support and direction is proving invaluable as it allows them to understand what happens at larger school meets. She also helps train a student with a disability on the Darling Downs team and, given her own children are now in high school, it highlights how giving and caring she is that she would volunteer her own time to assist these children.

Cultural Award – Gary Fogarty
Gary Fogarty has, for the last 15 years (since winning the inaugural Australian Bush Poetry Championship), managed to stay at the forefront of the Australian Entertainment Industry and is universally recognised as one of the leading, busiest and most-popular performing bush poets in Australia. This last 12 months have seen Gary not only become the first bush poet selected to represent Australia at the World Championships of Performing Arts in Hollywood, USA, but the first performing poet from any of the 52 representative countries to compete at this prestigious event. This recognition on the internationals stage is the highlight of a career that has seen Gary win numerous competitions and awards, including The Australian Bush Poetry Championship, two Australian Bush Laureate Awards (and seven final five nominations) and being elected to the Poets Wall of Renown in Tamworth.

Community Group/Event Award – Millmerran Commerce and Progress Association – Christmas in the Bush
When Christmas in the Bush was cancelled due to lack of interest in running the celebrations, the Millmerran Commerce and Progress Association stepped up and has turned it into an event to remember. If you’re looking for a community gathering that bonds residents and offers joy and friendship, then look no further than this special Christmas party in the main street of town. So many local groups and organisations are given the opportunity to fundraise and share their services while families and volunteers get to mingle in a carnival atmosphere amid stalls and sideshow alley. It has given a huge boost to community morale and organises promise even more next year.